Schools get breather on STAAR

Updated 11:38 pm, Friday, November 30, 2012

Students' scores on state end-of-course exams won't have to count as part of their class grade this year, Texas Commissioner of Education Michael Williams announced Friday.

Williams issued a statement saying he would delay implementation of a requirement that scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) end-of-course tests count as 15 percent of students' final course grades.

“Deferring the 15 percent rule for this school year relieves some of the pressure being felt in Texas districts as we continue the transition to a more rigorous accountability system,” Williams said. “This deferral also allows the Texas Legislature ample opportunity to address the various issues and concerns that have been expressed about implementation of the new system.”

“While we must continue to adhere to our state's accountability system, we must also recognize the importance of local control,” Perry wrote.

Williams' action made this the second school year that the 15 percent requirement has been deferred.

It generated responses that offered a preview of an expected debate among lawmakers next year over possible changes to the state's education accountability system

“This is good news. It's good for everybody in the whole state of Texas,” said Sylvester Perez, interim superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District. “This was a law, or a mandate, that was frankly not thought out very well.”

“I think it's a basic mistake to tell kids that the exam would not be a part of their final grade,” said Hammond, whose organization champions academic accountability.

“In sort of a perverse way, what the schools have done is they've released (students) from responsibility, told them that the tests don't matter,” he said. “And yet they will be responsible for the kids' performance on the exam.”

North East ISD Superintendent Brian Gottardy said he believes accountability is important.

“But we also believe, like the governor, that local control is important and teachers need to be able to manage their own classrooms,” he said in comments transmitted through a district spokeswoman.

Patrick, a Houston Republican, already has pre-filed a bill for the legislative session that begins in January that would leave it up to local school districts to determine whether end-of-course test scores should be a part of student grades.

Perez said he supports efforts to eliminate the statewide mandate.

“This has very far reaching implications for class rank, for GPA and was about to send shock waves across the state of Texas,” he said.

In district meetings with students and staff, Perez said, there was wide agreement that the rule was troublesome.

“There was not one person that did not feel that this was not only complicated but unfair and ultimately was going to result in a lot of students failing,” he said.

Local school districts still can choose to include the test scores in students' grades, but during the 2011-12 academic year 1,100 of the more than 1,200 Texas school districts told the Texas Education Agency they didn't plan to do that.